


Wolf And Coyote Fight Owl-Woman

by gardnerhill



Series: Tales From Wind-Goes-Through-It Lodge [3]
Category: due South
Genre: Alternate Universe - Animals, Episode: s01e20-21 Victoria's Secret, Folklore, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-25 21:19:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16668478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardnerhill/pseuds/gardnerhill
Summary: The due South episode "Victoria's Secret" retold as a folktale.





	Wolf And Coyote Fight Owl-Woman

It was once told!

  
 This was in the time after Wolf had been driven from the land of the north, the land where it is always snow, and went to live with his clan-brother Coyote in the land of the south, in the mighty lodge Wind-Goes-Through-It.

  
Wolf was starting to get used to the rocks and dirt under his paws instead of the snow from his land in the north; his heavy white coat had molted and was now a thin dark coat that made him look quite handsome. Wolf had been made a member of Coyote's family, and his great hunting skills helped feed that mighty brood even better than they ever had with lazy Coyote as the only hunter. The young Coyotes grew fat and strong and roamed everywhere in Wind-Goes-Through-It, the immense lodge where they all lived, even to roll and play outside the great lodge.

  
This land of the south was crowded and noisy and frightening at times for Wolf, who had always traveled by himself in the north. Coyote would joke or tell funny stories, and sometimes that would make Wolf laugh and forget his pain. But sometimes, when the noise and people were too much for Wolf, he would ask Wind, the lodge chief who blew through everything with the force of thunder, to carry him outside the lodge and along the shore of the great lake, and there he would fish or go squirrel-hunting by himself, and that would make him feel better. But he always returned to Coyote's den with many squirrels or fish to feed everyone, so Coyote's family forgave him for going away now and then.

  
One day a beautiful young woman followed Wolf along the shore of the great lake. She seemed like a kind, beautiful young woman, but in her heart she was wicked through and through. This was because she was Owl-woman, who catches children and eats their hearts. Owl-woman flew everywhere, in the land of the north and the land of the south. One day in her flights south she had seen the fat young Coyotes tumbling and playing near the great lake, and she had smacked her lips at the thought of eating them all. But she saw that they were well-guarded by their mother and their grandmother, by their uncles and aunts, by their father Coyote. And one day she saw that they were guarded by Coyote and Wolf. "Wolf?" Owl-woman had said angrily when she saw him. "What is Wolf doing here, so far from the north?" Owl-woman hated Wolf because he and his father, Old Wolf, had kept the children of the north safe from her marauding, fighting her fiercely and driving her away. Now Raven protected the land of the north; Old Wolf was dead and Wolf was here. "Still I will have those young Coyotes' hearts," she said to herself. "And I will kill Wolf!" But she did not do anything at first, because Wolf went everywhere with Coyote; Owl-woman wanted to wait until Wolf was alone. So Owl-woman waited and watched, circling outside Wind-Goes-Through-It. She saw how Wind would sometimes blow Wolf to a place on the lake where he would stay by himself for a few days, hunting or fishing. She knew that Wolf had been a warrior who had kept himself away from women. She waited until it was time for Wolf to go away again. Then she dropped to the ground and changed her shape to look like a beautiful woman, a Wolf-woman, and followed him.  
 

When Wind set Wolf down in his quiet place; when he heard a sound from the woods, he turned around, and saw a beautiful Wolf-woman approach him through the trees. "So you are here, Brother of my people," Wolf-woman said. "I have been alone for so long, the only Wolf in this land of the south — I am so glad I am not alone any more!" Owl-woman was very clever.

 

Wolf was so full of loneliness at times that he thought he would die if he did not see the north or his people. So here, alone, at the lake shore, Wolf saw Wolf-woman and fell in love with her. Wolf said, "So you are here, Sister of my people. Please sit and share my food."  
 

Wolf-woman sat and ate the squirrels Wolf brought her, and she talked to Wolf. Wolf spoke to her, and his lonely heart was filled with love. That night they lay together as husband and wife.  
 

For many days Wolf stayed with Wolf-woman, hunting for them both. Wolf was so happy that he forgot to return to Wind-Goes-Through-It. He built a small lodge at the edge of the lake, and the two of them lived there. Not long afterward Wolf-woman had a litter of Wolf pups, and Wolf was as happy as a married man can be, hunting for his growing family and lying with his wife every night.  
 

Meanwhile Coyote's family began to notice that Wolf had not returned from the lake. Without Wolf to help Coyote hunt, there was not enough food for everyone; the Coyote pups grew thin and hungry again, crying and staying close to the den.  
 

"Wolf has gone back to the north!" Coyote's mother, Dam Coyote, wailed.  
 

"That Wolf is lazier than you!" Coyote's wife, Coyote-woman, barked at him.  
 

"Uncle Wolf has forgotten us!" the hungry children yelped.  
 

Coyote was very angry at Wolf, but he did not dare go looking for him because he had to hunt for his hungry family all by himself.  
 

One day, when the Wolf pups were strong enough to leave the lodge, Wolf-woman looked at the vast top of the lodge Wind-Goes-Through-It, and she sighed loudly. "Husband, that lodge looks so fine and fair compared with our meager little lodge. I would like to see what that lodge looks like inside!"  
 

Wolf looked up from his games with his children. "That is no good place to live, Wife. Here it is peaceful and quiet. There it is noisy and full of cruel southern people. The pups are better off here."  
 

"Still, I wish to see that place!" Wolf-woman said. "Husband, let us go to that lodge."  
 

Wolf begged and pleaded with his wife to stay where they were, where it was safe and peaceful. But she cried and begged and wept, and said that Wolf did not love her. So finally Wolf agreed that they could pay visit to Wind-Goes-Through-It. Wolf took up a line of dried fish, and Wolf-woman broke down the old lodge, and the whole family traveled to Wind-Goes-Through-It.  
 

As they entered the lodge, Wolf met Old Man Coyote going out to hunt again; by now Coyote was as ragged and hungry-looking as any of his children. Only then did Wolf remember the Coyote family, and he was stricken with sorrow for his selfishness. Instantly he handed the string of dried fish to Coyote and said "Clan-brother, take these fish for your pups!"  
 

Coyote snatched the fish away from Wolf. "Do I know you? What is your clan?" he said angrily, asking the questions as if Wolf was a stranger to him. Wolf's heart was full of grief.  
 

"So you are here, clan-brother," Wolf-woman said quietly. Only then did Coyote notice the beautiful Wolf-woman and the litter of Wolf-children beside his friend. "I am Wolf's wife." She took the string of fish from Coyote. "Go hunt with your clan-brother, Husband. I will take our children to the den and feed these fish to the Coyotes."  
 

Wolf was very uneasy — but he had to make his peace with the friend he had wronged. So he agreed, and went out hunting with Coyote. He spoke gently and insistently to his friend, asking Coyote to understand why he had completely forgotten his duties to the family. At first Coyote was very cold and distant, remembering his hungry pups and how tired he was from hunting; but as Wolf spoke, he unbent and forgave him, for he had missed his clan-brother and was glad to have him back again. And Coyote was glad that his lonely friend had found a wife and had his own litter of pups.  
 

Meanwhile Wolf-woman took the fish to the Coyotes' den and offered them to the young Coyotes, who gobbled them up hungrily. She chatted and made friends with Coyote's wife and his mother, and the three women laughed as the pups rolled and played together.  
 

"Do not judge my husband too harshly for forgetting you," Wolf-woman coaxed. "You know how men are when they first fall in love!" And Coyote-woman laughed and agreed. And when Wolf and Coyote returned with enough game to feed everyone, it was easier still for her to forgive Wolf, who was even more handsome now that he was in love with his wife and happy with his children. Soon all the hungry bellies were full, and everyone went to sleep right there.  
 

And when all were asleep, Wolf-woman changed her form back to that of wicked Owl-woman. She took up one of the soundly-sleeping Coyote-pups, and split him open with her talons; she plucked out his heart and gobbled it up, smacking her lips greedily. She did the same thing with all the Coyote pups, eating up their hearts, until all the young Coyotes were dead. Then she smeared the blood on Wolf's mouth as he slept. She changed back into Wolf-woman, and went back to sleep.  
 

In the morning Coyote-woman's wail of grief and rage woke up everyone, and whirled through all of Wind-Goes-Through-It. "Ai ai ai ai ai! My children are dead! Wolf has eaten my children!"  
 

"My grandchildren! My grandchildren!" howled Dam Coyote. Coyote's brothers and sisters howled in rage too.  
 

Wolf-woman joined in the wail. "Husband, you have forgotten your clan!"  
 

A horrified Wolf was forced to run for his life as Coyote followed him. "Stranger! Enemy!" Coyote howled. All of Coyote's love for his clan-brother had turned into hate. "Killer of my pups! Kill Wolf! Kill Wolf!"  
 

Others in the great lodge took up the cry of rage. "Kill Wolf! Kill Wolf!" they yelled, chasing Wolf with all their weapons. Wolf ran for the flap of the lodge, just as Coyote jumped on his back. In his rage and grief, thinking Wolf had eaten his pups, Coyote struck Wolf a blow in the middle of his back that killed him instantly. "Who are you, to kill my children?" Coyote cried.  
 

"Whooo, whooo," said Wind, the chief of that mighty lodge, "Owwwwww, owwwww." He picked up Wolf's body, carried it outside Wind-Goes-Through-It, and left it in the quiet place by the lake where Wolf had made his small lodge for his family.  
 

Back in the den, the Coyotes and Wolf-woman wept loudly over the poor little Coyote-pups. Because the pups' hearts were all gone, Coyote-woman could not step over their bodies five times and bring them back to life, the magic that all Coyotes are born with; the poor pups were dead.  
 

Now the wicked Wolf-woman's mouth watered for her own pups' hearts. And she thought that she would get rid of Coyote and his tricking ways too.  
 

Coyote returned to his den. "Wolf is dead; I killed him. Let us raise these wolf-pups as our own."  
 

Wolf-woman wept and agreed, though her wicked heart was light at this news that her old enemy from the north was dead. Only Coyotes have the magic that lets them be brought back to life.  
 

In the night Wolf-woman again changed into her true shape of Owl-woman. This time she went among the Wolf-pups, her own children, and split them open and ate up their hearts, cackling. But she did not eat them all; one Wolf-pup had rolled over in his sleep to lie behind Coyote-woman, and was spared. Owl-woman smeared the blood on Coyote's lips, changed back into her true shape, and went back to sleep.  
 

In the morning, Wolf-woman wailed loudly. "Owwwww! Owwww! Coyote has eaten my pups in revenge! My poor children that never did you harm! Kill Coyote! Kill Coyote!"  
 

Coyote's mother and his brothers and sisters cried in grief and rage against him.  
 

The cry went up again in the lodge. "Kill Coyote! Kill Coyote!" howled the people.  
 

Now the terrified Coyote was chased through the lodge. Coyote might have been killed too, if he had not curled in a tight ball and hidden himself under a rock. There he lay, shaking, as the angry lodge people ran past with their weapons. Not one of those angry people would step over his body and bring him back to life; if he died, he would stay dead. "Who killed those poor Wolf-pups?" Coyote whimpered.  
 

"Whooo, whooo," said Wind. This time Coyote listened as the Wind blew from across the mighty lodge. "Whooo, whoooo-whooo, who-whoooo," Wind hooted like an owl. Then Coyote knew that Owl-woman had killed the Wolf-pups. "Owwwww, owwwww," Wind howled like Wolf-woman; now Coyote knew that Wolf-woman was really Owl-woman in disguise — and she had tricked Coyote into killing Wolf.  
 

"Wind," Coyote whispered, sick at heart, "please take me where you took Wolf."  
 

And Wind blew Coyote to the place on the lake where Wolf's dead body lay. Coyote wept in grief over the friend he had wronged; he wept so bitterly that to this day you can see the long dark lines from the tears down the corners of a coyote's eyes.  
 

"Clan-brother," he said, "member of my family, protector of my children — if I can give you life again, I promise to give you the biggest and best animals to hunt from now on, and I will only hunt the small ones." And Coyote stepped over Wolf's body five times.  
 

Wolf had been made a member of Coyote's family, and had been under Coyote's protection for so long that there was a little Coyote-magic in Wolf now. That magic brought Wolf back to life.  
 

It was no time for rejoicing. "Clan-brother, we have been tricked," Coyote said. "That is no wolf-wife you have brought home — that is an owl-woman!" He told Wolf what had happened since he had been killed and brought back to life.  
 

Wolf was angry at being tricked, and wept with grief for his own dead pups. "We must go back and kill her before she eats other children. But she can only be killed when she is in her true shape."  
 

Coyote rooted around in the ruins of Wolf's old lodge, and turned up a badger-hide that had been the door-flap. "I think I will do a little magic, too. But if we show up in Wind-Goes-Through-It everyone will tear us to pieces for pup-eaters," he added. "We will need disguises to go back."  
 

Meanwhile the Coyotes and Wolf-woman wept over the dead pups. The last little Wolf-pup wept too. Wolf-woman was angry that she had missed the last pup, but vowed to eat the heart that night, and accuse Coyote-woman in the same way that she had accused Wolf and Coyote.  
 The last little Wolf-pup played by himself outside the den, sad at the loss of all his brothers and sisters. The lodge-chief, Wind, blew the little Wolf hard this way and that. "Wind, mighty chief," young Wolf cried out, "my brothers and sisters are all dead, their hearts eaten." He drew his small knife, a gift from his father and the only thing he owned, and laid it out before him. "If you know a magic that can put a heart back in a body, please show me this magic, and I will give you my knife."  
 

Wind picked up the knife and whirled it away. Then little Wolf was picked up and blown outside the lodge to the edge of the lake shore. There was a bush there covered with big berries, as bright red as hearts. The little Wolf picked the berries and put them in a buckskin bag he carried. "Thank you, mighty chief," he said, for his father had taught him respect for elders and chiefs. "Thank you kindly." And for his politeness Wind picked up the young Wolf and blew him back to the den.  
 

But the Wolf-pup had heard his mother laugh like Owl-woman in the night, so he stayed away from her now. Instead he went to the sorrowing Coyote-woman. "Auntie Coyote, I have a magic for my brothers and sisters," and he showed her the berries.  
 

"This is the magic I needed to bring the pups back to life!" Coyote-woman exclaimed, and kissed the little Wolf-pup. Together, out of sight of Wolf-woman, Coyote-woman and the little Wolf-pup moved among the bodies of the Wolf and Coyote pups. Into each pup they put one of the bright red berries where the heart had been and closed up the skin. Then Coyote-woman stepped over the bodies five times, one at a time, and in no time at all the Wolf-pups and Coyote-pups were romping and playing again, as good as new. But they were warned to lie still as if they were still dead, for fear of Wolf-woman.  
 

Just then a loud wailing came from outside the den. Two old grandmother Coyotes were outside, sobbing with Wolf-woman for the loss of her pups. They exclaimed and made much over the Wolf-pup, bouncing him on their bony knees and patting his cheeks. They begged Wolf-woman and the Coyotes to let them stay in the den until their old feet were rested from their weary journey. Wolf-woman didn't care one way or the other — but Coyote-woman, who recognized Wolf and Coyote in those old-biddy disguises, welcomed them warmly and let them come into the den. There the two old grannies sat among all the Coyotes embroidering an apron of badger-skin, chattering and gossiping with their clan, and all the while through hand-signs they let them know who they were and what they were doing. Coyote-woman in turn used hand-signs to tell them that the pups were alive and well again. There, right under Wolf-woman's nose, they made their plans.  
 

That night everyone went to sleep in a big pile again, with the little Wolf-pup curled up by himself away from everyone else, covered in the grannies' badger-skin apron.  


That night, for the third time, Wolf-woman changed into her true shape of Owl-woman. She uncovered the little Wolf-pup to eat his heart.  
 

But it was not the little Wolf-pup under the apron, but Coyote curled as tight and small as a pup. And he was awake. "Pup-eater!" he howled, and threw the apron around Owl-woman's waist.  
 

Owl-woman screeched and struck at Coyote with her talons, tearing open his shoulder.  
 

But Wolf and Coyote-woman and Dam Coyote were awake too, howling "Pup-eater!" All of Coyote's brothers and sisters barked "Pup-eater!" And all the little Wolf-pups and Coyote-pups, who had mashed their bodies close together to look like big Coyote lying with the other adults, yipped "Pup-eater!"  
 

Owl-woman tried to change her shape. But Coyote had made that apron with magic, and it made Owl-woman keep her true shape. She flew out of the den and toward the lodge-flap, trying to get away as fast as she could. Wolf and Coyote gave chase, howling in rage.  
 

All the people in Wind-Goes-Through-It had heard that cry of "Pup-eater!" from the Coyote den, and now they knew the truth; they joined Wolf and Coyote in their chase of Owl-woman.  
 

Owl-woman flew through the doorflap and out of Wind-Goes-Through-It. The long fringe of her apron flapped in the wind. Wolf caught hold of the apron and was pulled up in the air as Owl-woman flew higher. Owl-woman screeched and tore at Wolf with her great talons, but Wolf would not let go as he knotted the apron tightly around Owl-woman's body.  
 

Coyote was so angry that he threw a chunk of wood at Owl-woman, and that made her let go of Wolf; he fell into the lake. Wounded and bleeding, Wolf limped ashore where Coyote stood, yowling at the disappearing form of the wicked creature.  
 

"That pup-eater has gotten away!" Coyote said angrily. "And she can change shape like any magician! We will never be safe again!"  
 

"We are safe," said Wolf, licking his bleeding wounds. "I tied that apron so tightly to her body that she will stay in her true shape forever. And if she shows up again, we will drive her away again, as Old Wolf and I did in the north." You can see that apron, still, when an owl fans out her tail.  
 

Wolf sat on the shore, full of sorrow. "Forgive me, clan-brother. I brought this evil into your den because I was lonely and wanted a wife."  
 

Coyote licked his shoulder-wound, and then he licked Wolf's wounds. "Come back to the den, clan-brother. My mother knows a medicine for these hurts."  
 

"My pups have no mother now," Wolf said as the two limped back into Wind-Goes-Through-It.  
 

"Clan-brother, you are as stupid as Butterfly sometimes," Coyote said cheerily. "Wife loves the Wolf-pups as if they were her own, and the little Coyotes call them 'brother' and 'sister.' We will just have to hunt twice as hard to feed so many pups!"  
 

And that was what happened.  
 

Coyote kept his promise to Wolf when he brought him back to life; since that day, Wolf hunts the big animals like buffalo and caribou and Coyote hunts the small ones like hares and squirrels.


End file.
